Clamp



I March 20,*1$28.

F. B. JOHNSTON CLAMP ATTORNE BY QP Filed Oct. 13. 1926 Patented VMar. 20, 1928.

UNiTi-:o STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EEANE E. JOHNSTON, or EOSELLE; PARK, NEW JERSEY, AssIGNoE To AMERICAN SAFETY DEVICE oo., 0E NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OE NEW `Your;

GLAMR y Y The invention more particularly has for its object to provide a very secure, simple and ecient Outrigger clamp to be used in the scaffolding of steel skeletonv buildings.

B Heretofore in the construction of skeleton steel frame .buildings scaffolding devices were used which were moved along the height of the building for the purpose of constructing the outer shell of the building l which shell was usually made'of bricks or stone or the like, such shell enclosing the ste ell skeleton structure. cludingloutriggers and platforms are limited by the length of the cable and thus inhi'gher structures it is customary to raise the outrig'gers to ahigher elevation, disconnect the platforms from the lower outriggers and connect them to the upper outriggers and then remove the -lower outriggers whereby the platformscan be used' for this higher elevation untilv the platforms, and conse-v quently the shell of the building reach the positionof vthese higher outriggers. As vthe installation of these h'igherfoutriggers is carriedout at portionsof the steel skeleton structure which are not provided with flooring and it has been customary to provide a temporary flooring in the form of several planks so as` to enable( the Aworkmen installing the scaffolding vdevices to lbe supported by suchtemporary' iooring and to make the installationof the higher outriggers. `This necessitated the carrying up to these higher points a considerable amount of planking which became useless after the outriggers had been` attached. `My invention'consists in a new andv improved clamp for uniting a plurality of wooden planks, so as to form a single strong girder, which ar- 0 rangement therefor allows the utilization of such temporary ooring planks and their conversion to ,outriggers `Thus the workmen preparing to install' the scaffolding devices at the higher elevations first arrange certain'plankspof denite size and shape along theV horizontal cross-beams of the skeleton structure of the buildingl and'use suchl planks for the purpose of being supported thereon while they are moving the apparatus of the scaffolding devices along the front or side of the building. These planks'L then having been used for the purpose of a temporary flooring are then converted into outriggers by arranging such gers .whereby it is not necessary to Scaifold devices inplanks in pairs` and binding them together by the novel Outrigger clamp which I propose vand describe hereinafter. The method thusproposed is very convenient in that after the planks have been raised to -their elevated position and have served the purpose' of al temporaryvflooiing they are removed as a flooring and converted to outriglower these planks.

. In the accompanying drawings y Fig. 1 vis a perspective view of apart of thesteel skeleton structurelshowing the application thereto of the temporary flooring planks and .also the application thereto O suchplanks converted into outriggers for a scaffolding platform a Fig. 2 is a side view of the ends of the outriggers showing them held together by my improved clamping device and supporting the cables which Vin tuin support the platforms.`

Fig. 3 is a cross'section taken on line 3-3 `of Fig.2, with parts in elevation and -Fig. 4 is a cross sectiontaken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 with parts in elevation.

Fig...5 shows another embodiment of a 'clamping member according to the present invention.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the various views.

ticularly to Fig. 1, the steel skeleton structure loira-building is usually composed. of

Avertical `members'l() and horizontal cross- Referringto the drawings and more par-` crossmembers 11 and 12, it becomes necessary to install scaffolding devices in order to enablethe `workmen to build up or construct vthe surrounding'shell of brick, stone, mortar or the like.

' 'l In accordance with iii-yV inventiony the workmen place upon the top-most horizontal members 11 and 12 planks 13 and 14 across two parallel men'ibers 11 and planks 15 and 16 across'two subsequent parallel members 11, the planks 15 and 16 beingshown in the drawing as broken away. These planks then serve for the workmen-to walk thereon and to give a secure flooring to enable the 4workmen to carry the heavyvpl'atform memthreaded end 19 of the bolt.

position. Such devices rest upon the planks 13, 14, 15 and 16. Similar planks had. already been placed in position forward of these planks 13. to 16. These forward planks .in advance of these planks 13 to 16 are then taken up and arranged in pairs and clamped together and at the same time clamped to the `horizontal cross-members 1l as shown in Fig. 1. For this purpose the planks 13 and 111 are placed side by side withtheir flat surfaces opposing 'and before the outriggers soto be formed arepro.- jected out et the building clamping members are applied to these pairs ofL planks; Clamping members of the type referred to are shown` in Fig. 3 and they consist of a central spacing member 18 which determines the space between the parallel Outrigger planks. This spacing member 18` is prefer ably in the form oit' a tube to permit the bolt 19 to pass therethrough which bolt at one end is screw threaded and at the other end is provided with a head 20. The bolt is passed through an opening 21'of a lower clamp member 22 andthen is passed through the tube 18 and through the opening 23 of a clamp member 24 so that the screw threaded end 19 projects.

The clamping members 22 and 2/tare'substantially alike so as to be interchangeable and `they have a length substantially equal to the width of the two parallel outri ger planks 13 and 14 together with the -widt or diameter of the tube 18. They arehowever so` arranged as toI be slightly7 smaller thanV this combined width and are providedn with curved corners 25 and projectinfr members 26, whereby the angley between the ends 26 and the main part of thel elampingmember is a somewhat obtuse angle, so that by compressing the two clamping members awedge-` ike compressingaetion is exerted on:4 the wooden planks. When the parts are assembled as shown in Fig. 3- and as just described an interiorly threaded rotatable nut 27 having a handle 28 is thenapplied to the screw The turninglof this nut 27 by means ofthe handle 28 serves tow torce the extending` members 26 against the corners of the Outrigger planks 13 and 14; and the curved edges 25 and the inclination of the end pieces 26" of the members 22 and 24`serve to wedge the Outrigger planks so that they are 'forced toward each other and tightly against the spacing member' 18. It is this bevelle'd or curved` or wedging ortion 25` of the clamp:` members 22 an i 24 which serves a very Vimportant function, namely, to first bring together towards each other and also hold` together the Outrigger planks. Thus by the turning of the handle 28 avery compact andy securely held outrigger `is provided. The spacing member 18 has the function however, notwithstanding the tight clamping together of these outriggers, to maintain a space betweenthe outrigger planks 13 and 14. This space is for the purpose of permitting the cable 30 to pass therethrough. This cable is provided with an eye portion 31 throughwhich a bolt passes which bolt has ahead and a Screw threaded nut 34. The bolt 32 is placed transversely of the two Outrigger planks 13 and 14 permittingthe cable 30 to pass between these Vplanks in the space 35 therebetween.

Thus after the planksl and. 14 for instance have been used as a temporary floor ingthey are brought together in position 80 and `are clamped together by the means shown in Figs.`2 and 3 and as just described. The outriggers having thus been made on the job, from these planks-13and1 14, and planks 15 and 16` respectively, theyare then 85 secured. to the steel members of the" steel skeleton structure. This is done by binding members indicated in Fig. 1 by the character fidwhich are lil-shaped stirrups passing around the horizontal crossbeams 11 and aroundthese outriggers as formed by these two planks and. then:V engaging horizontal plates* 39having holes therein thro-ughwhich the legs of the stirrups pass,.,which legs have their `ends screw threaded andzon these screw threaded ends nuts 4.-() are` arranged so as` `to 1 hold the plates 39 tothestirrupends, Whereby thestirrups 38 and plates 39 completely surround: and embrace the horizontal crossmembers` 11 and `the pairs `of Outrigger planks as shown inFig. 1.` These stirrup members are well known though only used for' other `purposes and by themselves they do|` not `torni` any part-of this invention. wWhen the Outrigger planks having rstbe'en 105 used as temporary flooring haver been converted tov outriggers as described. and; are

.held` in position by thestirrups 38 with a .does not belong to the invention, so that a detailed descriptionofitV may be dispensed lll with. It may be mentioned. only that for f the stepwise raising ofl the platform.` according to theprogressof the work any suitable windifngdevice must be provided` either inthe form of a handjack with a crank on 12u the platform' itself, or in the `formi` of.. a

pulley tackle with ay windlass standing on the ground. i i The formation of. strong girderlike o-ut-v riggers by the planks irstused as a temporary flooring, saves-i a great dealY of time `in:` the installation of scaffolding devices, and

further the standardizing ofthe planks into a certain type lwhich serves `both purposes, first to be used` as a gangway or llooring,and 130 minish the number of implements which are tion on the necessary in the erection of the scaiolds and of the building itself; it will further reduce considerably the amount of labour which is needed for transportation of the different parts, and all those effects together will cut down the overall building expenses.

There is no need for building the outrigger clamp exactly as has been detailed above with reference to the Figure 3. For instance the tube 18, serving as a distancing member, may be dispensed with, so that the bolts 19 themselves may serve as distanoing members. Further, this bolt may be forged together with the lower clamping member 22 as a single T-shaped piece, although such construction would be less recommendable.

On the other side the Outrigger clamp may consist of two pieces of flat iron extending across the planks to be united and being clamped together by threaded bolts and nuts at both sides of these planks. The clamping members may even be made of variablel grip, as shown in Figure 5 by building up each of them out of two parts which are fixed to each other in an adjustable manner. Instead of the shown ring formed nuts 27 with handles 28, ordinary hexagonal nuts and counternuts may be used. The clamping members may be barbed or provided with in'dentations to improve their gripping aclanks. j

If the ad]ustable platform used in erecting the side wall of the building has to carry particularly heavy loads, or if the planks used for the constructionof the outrigger are rather thin, then more than two planks may be used.

It is understood that the clamp laccording to my present invention'may be advantageously used not only in the building of scaffolding outriggers, but likewise in all other cases, where several wooden planks are to be united so as to form a single, strong girder, strut or beam.

I claim: Y e

A clamp of the character described, comprising a threaded bolt, a sleeve thereon, adjustable plate assemblies having the outer ends thereof bent at obtuse angles to straddle the edges ot' spaced parallel planks engagingl opposite sides of said sleeve, perforatlons in the said plate assemblies and the aforesaid bolt passing therethrough, and a nut on the said b'olt to securely bind the plate assemblies together and to wedge the planks against the sleeve.

In testimony that- I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

FRANK B. JOHNSTON. 

